The Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously rejected an application seeking variances to remodel a former Elm Avenue funeral home into a four-family home.

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The application for the former Corey and Ragan Funeral Home at 259 Elm Ave., on the corner of Bryant Street, came before the board during its May meeting. It proposed 4 units with a total of 6 bedrooms, seeking preliminary and final major site plan, with use D and C Variances. Eleven parking spaces were proposed where 8 were required.

The same applicant came before the board last fall with a plan for 5 units and 13 bedrooms, including an addition and other improvements, but after hearing questions from the board and comments from residents, revised the plans to come back to the board.

A Linden-based LLC (259 Elm Ave., LLC) acquired the property in October 2020 after foreclosure for $368,547, according to property records. The property generates taxes of about $21,603 in 2023 based on an assessment of $275,000, which is down from $311,800 in previous years.

Attorney James McCarthy told the board that testimony would speak to how the applicant made an effort to have the application fit within the zoning plan and master plan for Rahway and keeping with character of the neighborhood.

About a dozen residents spoke against the application, arguing that it does not fit in  a single-family neighborhood. Among those speaking against the application were former city planner Cindy Solomon and former Mayor and current Assemblyman James Kennedy, both residents of Elm Avenue, as well as former Councilwoman Jennifer Wenson Maier of Bryant Avenue, who is executive director of the Housing Authority.

Kennedy warned that if the Zoning Board approved this application, a property owner could take two single-family homes and build a build four-family home. Some 10 percent of the town lives in the Central Business District around the train station, Kennedy said. “That was for a purpose, that’s why those buildings were built there. I would stick to the plan,” he said.

“What we’re asking is to keep the neighborhood as it is,” said Amber Wagner, a resident of Elm Avenue. ” We have two-families around the block, we don’t really want four-families in our neighborhood.

McCarthy said density is a fair concern. “We’ve tried hard to reduce density as much as possible. Unfortunately or fortunately, if this application is denied,” he said another option that would not require a variance would be to demolish the building and subdivide the property for two separate homes, which would not keep any of the characteristics of historic value of the current building. The applicant heard concerns about keeping the historical appearance of the building in the previous plan and recognized that, he said.

Commissioner Rick Zdan suggested whether the applicant would be amendable to reducing the number of units from four to three as a condition of the application. McCarthy said they would consider reducing the units, which would mean coming back to the board in the future, but asked whether the application could be bifurcated for the use but return with a number of units, which the board was not willing to do.

Editor’s note: This post was based on an audio recording of the May 19 Zoning Board meeting, obtained through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request.

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